Half and Half: Lady Panthers' good and bad creeps up in Allen tournament

The Plano East volleyball team accomplished what it needed to do to earn a spot in the championship bracket Saturday at the Texas Open.

But despite the team's strong showing Friday, the final phase of the tournament proved a bit more problematic en route to a 3-3 split in Allen and 13th-place finish.

In the Lady Panthers' final matchup against Colleyville Heritage, East managed to string together just 22 points in a straight-set loss (25-12, 25-10).

"We weren't able to refocus and regain that energy and passion to do our best," said Stephen Jones, East head coach. "We came out and Colleyville Heritage was more determined to take that victory. We did not play well and that was a team where all the things we had been doing at this point in time, we failed to do against them."

Fresh off a three-set loss to Rockwall-Heath, the Lady Panthers failed to bounce back against a Heritage squad that was upset in its own bracket opener against Bishop Lynch. The end result was East's most lopsided setback of the season thus far and locked the team into a four-way tie for 13th place with Keller, Hebron and Flower Mound Marcus.

It spelled an unsetting end to the tournament and a Saturday slate that saw the Lady Panthers go 0-2 after dropping its first-round matchup against Heath (25-23, 23-25, 25-20). No stranger to going the distance after competing in five three-set affairs in the Duncanville Tournament of Champions, the Heath loss continued an unsettling trend thus far with East just 2-5 in matches that go to a deciding set.

It's that need to close out matches and maintain consistency that has become paramount in the early legs of non-district play.

"If our weakness as a team is being able to finish at the end after competing hard against tough teams, that's something this team can definitely work through," Jones said. "Just playing top teams and going the distance with them is a good step, but we need to show we can win those matches."

In hopes of continuing its development, East got the chance to further experiment with its lineup and further acclimate some new faces to the varsity level with two starters sidelined by injury in senior Kayla Burling and junior Brianna Blagowsky.

Tasked with filling in for Burling on the outside was sophomore Karyn Chrisman, who impressed for the second straight tournament. Senior Caitlin Nickel chipped in on the defensive end in Blagowsky's absence, while senior Symone Stephenson's progress was noted by joining senior Sammy Myers at starting middle blocker.

Junior Maggie Becker drew solid reps at starting right side while junior Lily Porsa's versatility kept her on the floor from start to finish.

"[Porsa] played all the way around," Jones said. "She doesn't leave the court, is just 5-foot-7, but can sky, and is an amazing DS because she's so quick and agile."

Together, the unit opened the tournament on a high note by going 3-1 on Friday, using stout passing and set-receive work to help procure wins over Lake Highlands (25-11, 25-15), Sachse (25-18, 25-23) and Lubbock Coronado (26-24, 25-15). The lone setback came against reigning Class 5A State Champion Coppell (25-14, 25-23).

Despite not seeing action during the tournament due to injury, Jones said Burling and Blagowsky were back to practicing at the start of the week.

Such action was limited for those two, with the focus being assuring the players are good to go for Thursday when the Lady Panthers begin a three-day trek through the NIKE Pearland Volleyball Classic as one of 79 teams competing in the state's largest volleyball tournament.

East, which is seeded No. 23, opens against Baytown Sterling at 12:45 p.m., followed by Clear Brook at 3:15 p.m. and Incarnate Word at 5:45 p.m.

"Stay healthy and bring home hardware," Jones said. "We want to come home with something in our hands, as well as use this time to work on things like consistency and finishing."

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